Senator Chris Van Hollen has announced he will challenge Chuck Schumer for the job of Senate majority leader, throwing the Democratic Party into a fresh debate over its future just days after sweeping victories in the midterm elections. The Van Hollen Schumer challenge is the first serious contest for the Senate Democratic leadership in years.
Van Hollen, a 67-year-old Maryland Democrat, said on Thursday he would run for the post, challenging Schumer, 75, who has led the Democrats in the Senate since 2017. Democrats won a majority in the chamber in the midterm elections, and will hold at least 55 seats against 44 for Republicans, with the new Congress taking office in January. The closed-door secret-ballot vote will take place next month, in early December.
“A Change From the Status Quo”
Van Hollen said voters had called for “a change from the status quo that isn’t working for working people” in the midterms, in which Democrats also secured a majority in the House of Representatives. “It’s now on us to meet this moment, and to do that we need new leadership,” he said. “That is why I’m running for Senate Majority Leader.” He told the network MSNOW in an interview that he had the support of more than 10 of the 55 Democratic senators who are known to be voting, but acknowledged he was the “underdog” in the race against Schumer.
Schumer, who is expected to retain his party’s leadership in the chamber but previously predicted not having a challenger, released his own statement on Thursday saying he had the votes to continue as the Democratic leader in the Senate. His allies point out that he has just led the party to a Senate majority, and that a leadership fight now would be a distraction from the work of governing.
Progressives Push for Change
The challenge comes at a moment when progressive activists, as well as some Democratic lawmakers, are calling for Schumer to be replaced as party leader. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has already refused to back Schumer as leader, and Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan is among the incoming senators whose support Van Hollen is courting. Van Hollen, who was elected to the Senate in 2016 after more than a decade in the House representing a Maryland suburb outside Washington, has built his profile on fights over El Salvador, Gaza, government spending and immigration enforcement. Whoever wins the secret ballot will preside over a 55-seat majority and set the party’s agenda in the Senate for the next two years. Read our earlier report on the Senate Republican leadership vote here: https://reportrig.com/senate-republicans-re-elect-thune-as-leader-after-midterms/
